Just a few strands: Coping with illness, hair loss & side-effects of cancer

Having cancer can be devastating. But for women, the side-effects of the disease, especially the loss of hair, is the hardest part. Aditi Phadnis finds that how people helping others cope with illness

Jayanti’s story

For many harried working mothers, she’s a lifeline. A domestic help, Jayanti starts her working day at 6 am. She is punctual, regular and polite. At just over 40, she’s content: A migrant from West Bengal, but unlike others, never having had to see grinding poverty. Her family manage to eat fish curry and rice several days a week. Her daughter has recently got married in a well-organised wedding to a man who is a mechanic in the Maruti factory in Gurugram. All the members of her family own mobile phones. 

The most arresting feature of Jayanti’s face